Wednesday, June 24, 2015

DESTINATION: Ecola State Park, Oregon

Leaving Haystack Rock we headed north through the town of Cannon Beach to the entrance to Ecola State Park. This park stretches along 9 miles of coastline and wraps around Tillamook Head.

Near Ecola looking south towards Cannon Beach. Haystack rock is in the distance.

View of Tillamook Lighthouse from near Indian Point

Captain William Clark and 12 members of the Corps of Discovery traveled through what is now the park in 1806 in search of a beached whale near present-day Cannon Beach (we mentioned this in our Cannon Beach post). After scaling the north slope of Tillamook Head and reaching one of its viewpoints, Clarke described the vista as “… the grandest and most pleasing prospects which my eyes ever surveyed…”
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View from near Ecola Point to beach

Submarine Rock from near Ecola Point. Can you see the eroded tunnel through the rock?

Canyon Creek flows down from Ecola State Park, across this sandy beach and to the Pacific

The entrance road meanders through a dense Sitka spruce forest, eventually opening up to a grassy bluff offering breathtaking views of the Pacific Ocean. Sea stacks punctuate the long sweep of shoreline south, backed by the town of Cannon Beach and ridge of coastal mountains above.

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If these park roads look familiar you may have seen them in the bicycle riding scene from the movie Goonies. Several scenes from the movie were filmed here including the Lighting House Lounge scenes and the truck rally on Cannon Beach.

Park signs warn of cougars in the area but this looks pretty "squatchy" to TK